Communications Crossroads - Fall 2007 - (Page 19)

The commercial is just a part of the larger, Hispanic integratedmarketing campaign Sprint Nextel launched earlier this year. And outreach can take place city by city, as well. Consolidated Communications serves the Texas communities of Katy, Conroe, and Lufkin. As expected, their main ethnic population is Hispanic. Greg Thiele, Advertising Manager with Consolidated, said they made speciﬁc adjustment in their marketing, advertising, and customer service to address this speciﬁc group. For instance, the company’s expanded Texas line-up offers about a dozen Hispanic-language shows. But the effort isn’t limited to the Hispanic channels. To make the Hispanic customers feel welcome, the company works hard at its communications. Some of customers actually speak very little English, so it’s important to have a Spanishspeaker in the customer service department. Furthermore, Thiele says all the Consolidated literature is produced in both English and Spanish. Signage in the company’s retail stores is also in two languages. Because a large, varied group such as this has many dialects, Thiele and Consolidated have worked with various translators to ﬁnd the right dialect to meet the local need. Additionally, the company has at least one person in their customer service department who is bilingual, who double checks the materials before publishing. Advertising involves both translation and selection of appropriate outlets. “The translator that we use has a newspaper, and we collaborate with him and have the ads translated for his newspaper,” says Thiele. Consolidated also translates their radio ads to advertise on Spanishlanguage radio stations. This usually takes more words in Spanish than in English, so they have to edit very tightly to make it ﬁt the 30-second spot. The translator helps trim the ad down. Thiele’s advice to others thinking of getting into international programming: “Ensure that your internal checks and balances are in synch with the market.” For example, translate to the right dialect. And get started now. As the Hispanic population grows, so will the efforts of consumer-oriented companies, those looking for every advantage in today’s hypercompetitive industries. Which means what is an advantage in today’s marketplace may be expected business practices in just a few years. Fall 2007 COMMUNICATIONS CROSSROADS 19

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Communications Crossroads - Fall 2007

Up Front Contents TeleBites Cover Story: The World at Your Doorstep Business Advantages: Reaching Out to the Fast-Growing Hispanic Market Technology Today: Ideas from Foreign Telecoms You Should Consider Industry Calendar Index to Advertisers People Straight Talk

Communications Crossroads - Fall 2007

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